Heidi Heitkamp and Mac Schneider’s Political Party Votes to Ostracize the Oil and Gas Industry

Former state Senator Mac Schneider applauds during his time in the Legislature. Schneider lost re-election to the state Senate in 2016 but is running for the U.S. House in 2018.File photo / Forum News Service

This is not good news for North Dakota Democrats:

The DNC quietly voted over the weekend to ban donations from fossil fuel companies, HuffPost has learned. https://t.co/A75ecxwrFU

It’s an election year, so the Democrats like Senator Heidi Heitkamp and House candidate Mac Schneider are calling themselves independents instead of, you know, Democrats. This story is a big part of the reason why.

Here in North Dakota Heitkamp is touting her consistent votes in favor of the oil and gas industry as an example of why she’s the sort of moderate, centrist Democrat red state voters can trust.

Meanwhile the DNC hates the oil and gas industry so much they won’t take their political contributions any more.

However moderate Heitkamp and Schneider may or may not be, their presence in Congress gives power to a political party that, overall, wants things that would be terrible for North Dakota.

Which is absurd. Earlier today I was interviewing Congressman Kevin Cramer on my radio show and I asked him about this story. “What’s next?” he asked, wondering if the manufacturing industry will also be barred from making contributions to the DNC because they use oil and natural gas.

It’s a valid question. The oil and gas industry touches just about every aspect of our national economy. I completely understand the desire for better energy sources – I think humanity should always strive for the better in all things – but in the here and now our economy and our quality of life is dependent on the oil and gas industry. The same industry the Democratic National Committee is ostracizing.

Again, Heitkamp and Schneider and other red state Democrats are working very hard to distance themselves from the national party, but how far can they get away really? If Heitkamp is re-elected in the Senate that’s one more vote for a Democratic majority which will elect someone like Senator Chuck Schumer as their leader. If Schneider is elected, that’s a step closer to someone like Nancy Pelosi setting the agenda as Speaker of the House.

However moderate Heitkamp and Schneider may or may not be, their presence in Congress gives power to a political party that, overall, wants things which would be terrible for North Dakota.